Guild castles

With five Castles in the world, and each having been owned by different civilizations from the far-flung past of Verra, you can expect that each Castle has its own character. Different terrains and different layouts will result in each Castle having its own advantages and disadvantages. Just because you have managed to take one Castle will not mean that your strategies will pan out in the next. Commanders will have to take into consideration the lay of the land, time of day, weather, and even seasons into account when forming their battle plans.[1]

These Castles are occupied when players arrive on Verra, and their current inhabitants will have to be removed before any player can claim them. Castles will be dangerous and high-level raid zones until they can be cleared, and the first group of players to do so will gain the Castle as their reward.[1]

Castle regions

Castles have direct power over the Nodes that belong to it, but also have soft power across the entire region it belongs to. All Nodes belonging to that region pay fealty to the Castle in the form of taxes paid directly to the Castle. The Monarch sets the rate, and can use those proceeds to upgrade defenses, maintain the Castle’s direct Nodes, or provide buffs and benefits to the citizens of that region, as the magnanimous ruler that you are.[1]

Economic regions

We want our players to have a reason to explore the wilderness, to travel with purpose, and much of that will be driven by our resource system. Transporting these goods might just be more difficult than gathering them. Our regional market system allows players to participate in creating pocket economies that will reinforce the stability of goods in particular regions. Players will be able to move resources and set up shop in other areas to take advantage of the varied markets. With resources spawning dynamically, certain regions will naturally become important trading hubs for the transportation of goods throughout the world.[15]

Most benefits and features of a guild castle will be housed solely to the members of the guild that controls it.[20]

There are levers and dials that are present to both the owners of Castles as well as the elected officials of Nodes that during their administration they have the ability to impact and influence the region around them.[21] – Steven Sharif

Castle nodes

Should you be deft enough to take a Castle, you’ll now be responsible for managing it. Castles will have their own Nodes associated with them, and developing and defending those Nodes will determine the state of your Castle during the next siege. If you’ve done a good job managing your kingdom, then you’ll have more and better options available for deployment during the next siege. If you let your populace fall to ruin, you may have to rely solely on your own devices.[1]

Node development

The layout and architecture within a Node’s development area are determined by influential race. For example, a stage 3 Node with the majority of player contribution being Py’rai would have a Py’rai village with Py’rai architecture. Most NPCs would be Py’rai elves, and offer questlines within the Py’rai narrative.[33] – Margaret Krohn

Each player’s contributed experience is flagged with their character race and other identifiers. When a Node advances, the race with the highest experience contribution determines the Node’s style and culture. This style and culture change can happen at every Node Stage. For example, if a Node advances to Level 2 - Encampment Stage and 51% of all experience was earned by Ren’Kai players, the Node will be a Level 2 Ren’Kai Node. If that same Node advances to a Level 3 - Village Stage Node, but the Py’Rai contributed 62% of all the experience earned, then the Node will be a Level 3 Py’Rai Node. Cultural influences bring more than just the aesthetic and storyline changes - benefits are granted to the dominant culture within that Node’s Zone of Influence.[34] – Margaret Krohn

Some parts are determined by the area it's in. Some parts are determined by the type it is. Some parts are determined by the race it is; and then the rest of it is determined by the mayor.[35] – Jeffrey Bard

All nodes whether they're associated with a castle or associated with normal node structure has cultural influences that replicate over to the buildings that are produced and the NPCs that are present.[21] – Steven Sharif

There is an attrition mechanic that affects experience and influence to curb a single race from dominating the entire world.[38]

There is an attrition and that attrition on experience and influence is heightened based on the performance of the race in the world. So if all these nodes are Orc nodes then their attrition rate is very high to compete with the cultural establishment of new nodes because they have more influence in the world and a popular opinion is against them in their outlying regions that they do not have influence in.[38] – Steven Sharif

Castle sieges

Castle Sieges are intended to be massive events with hundreds of people involved in a single Siege. One of the reasons that Ashes of Creation Apocalypse exists is so we can address the challenges in ramping up the number of bodies that we can handle simultaneously. With our latest test hitting over 200 simultaneous players, we’re ready to push that number even further. Our goal is to have the largest organized PVP battles of any MMORPG.[1]

There will be benefits to attracting people... even if they're not in your guild or alliance – kind of a feudal like system, where you can attract other players who are just independent of this whole politic. They will have things to do there - benefits to receive - and there will be a reciprocal relationship between who you can attract, what they do for you; and how that benefits you and them.[3] – Steven Sharif

On January 11, 2019, we showcased our sneak peek of two siege map designs coming to Ashes of Creation Apocalypse soon - Castle Korgan previously owned by the Aelan humans and Castle Milnar constructed by the great Dünzenkell dwarves. These great castles of Verra were the cornerstone of defense for the Empires that owned them. Once home to legendary battles that turned the tides of power and influence on Verra. Now abandoned by the great powers that have fled Verra through the Divine Gateways, these great pillars of civilization are battlefields in the Apocalypse.[44] – Margaret Krohn

The Castle Siege mode is another example of a playable slice of the MMORPG that Apocalypse is providing early testing for. While it’s a somewhat smaller scale experience than the one you’ll have in the MMO, the overall flow of taking and defending a castle will remain similar. There’s some additional systems you’ll see in the final product, like the influence of Nodes over the available defensive emplacements, the crafting and deploying of custom siege weapons, and the summoning of siege monsters. These are all things that we’ll be adding on top of this mode upon our release of Ashes of Creation.[44] – Margaret Krohn

The Attacking Team’s victory condition is to take the Defending Team’s Relic which is the final Control Point in the castle.They will also have several Control Points located in their camp to encourage Defenders to skirmish outside the castle walls. These will also act as spawn locations for the Attacking Team.[44] – Margaret Krohn

When you join into the castle siege in Apocalypse you're going to be able to select one of six classes. Right and upon selecting those classes then you're going to be placed on your starting side, whether it be the attacker or defenders; and then you're going to be able to start preparations. It's gonna be a little bit of a loading time where you have selected those classes. You're going to take positions perhaps and whatnot; and there are siege weaponry that's going to be present there as you see here some ballistas, some trebuchets, a battering ram and maybe some traps and some powder keg kind of stuff available to destroy some things.[45] – Steven Sharif

Attacking team

In the first phase of battle the attackers attempt to penetrate the walls and gates to gain access to the inside of the castle.[45][58]

Siege weapons available to the attacking side include Trebuchets and Battering Rams.[44]

There will be a variety of siege weapons available to the Attacking side including Trebuchets and Battering Rams. Trebuchets’ range will be long enough to reach the enemy ballistas from their initial placement points. These placement points will be out of player character’s weapon range from the castle walls, but within ballista range, and scattered on the battlefield.[44] – Margaret Krohn

Attempt to capture attacker's control points to increase their spawn time and decrease the total match time.[58]

If a Defender captures an Attacker’s Control Point, the total match time decreases, the Attacker Teams’ respawn time increases, and it also provides a temporary morale buff to the entire Defender’s side. Defenders will also be able to teleport to any Control Points that have been taken.[44] – Margaret Krohn

Siege weapons available to the defending side include Ballistas and Traps.[44]

Ballistas will have fixed positions on castle towers. Traps will be placeable items that the Defending Team can use to damage and crowd control their enemies. Note that these items are destructible by the Attacking Team.[44] – Margaret Krohn

The royal mounts will be the only class of mounts that can fully fly in the world; and they are will be needed to be mounted while in a royal stables. Royal stables are a building that can be built in a node if elected to be built by the mayor and supported by the community building it up through the quests to do so; and castles come with a royal stable as well. So once you have a royal stable and you become that Mayor or King or Queen, you may then mount the creature there and then take it wherever you wish.[59] – Steven Sharif

Guildhalls are the ultimate expression of a guild's power! In Ashes these structures will serve as focal points for a guild, offering any guilds who construct them a whole host of benefits as well as customization options.[62]